


In Case You Didn’t Know

by tkall



Category: Younger (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-26
Updated: 2018-08-26
Packaged: 2019-07-02 18:13:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,811
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15801933
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tkall/pseuds/tkall
Summary: Charles and Liza finally talk about what’s most important.





	In Case You Didn’t Know

**Author's Note:**

> So... I haven’t written fic in a LONG time, it might be crap, sorry about that. These two have eaten my brain though, and I needed to get this out. So..hope you like it?

Ever since Liza had decided to leave Empirical, her and Charles have cautiously begun seeing each other again. It’s wonderful, and exciting and she is feeling optimistic about their chances of making this thing between them work. The one problem, the only thing that is making her falter, is that they have yet to define exactly what this thing between them actually is. 

She knows how she feels. She’s quite simply, completely in love with him. She knows now, that she has been for a long time. She wants to be in a relationship with him, and everything that comes with that. Meeting his friends, him meeting hers- God, she really thinks him and Maggie would get along so well- she wants to spend time with his girls, as their fathers partner, not as their babysitter. She knows that is going to be complicated, and delicate to navigate, but she loves those two little girls, she knows they’ll be able to make it work. She wants him to meet Caitlin, not as a friend of the Katz family this time, but as the man she loves. 

The problem, is that she doesn’t really know how Charles feels about her, about them. Oh, she knows he wants her, and wants to be with her, but they’ve never discussed how they actually feel. Does he want to be in a relationship with her? A real relationship? Does he want to tell the world that he loves her? DOES he love her? There are so many questions running around her head, she doesn’t know what to do with them, or how to ask him for answers. 

She is roused out of her tumultuous thoughts, by a big warm hand, running down her side. ‘You’ve been very quiet tonight. Penny for those thoughts that are making you make your concentration face?’ Charles says, a smile tugging at his mouth. She lifts her head up from its resting place on his chest, and looks at him. ‘My concentration face?’ She says, confused. He chuckles. ‘When you concentrate, you make a face. You get a little line right here’ he runs a gentle finger between her eyes. ‘And you purse your lips. It’s very cute, and very distracting. There has been many a meeting where I’ve lost track of what I’m saying, just looking at it’ he kisses her soft and quick, on the spot where he had just run his finger over. She feels her heart swell. This man. If she wasn’t already head over heels for him, this, the way he notices things about her, the way he knows her, would have tipped her right over.

She sighs softly, and lays her head back down. It seems they are going to have this conversation here and now. It may be cowardly of her, but she can’t quite bring herself to look at him at this moment. She’s scared. Scared that she might be in this alone, that he might not feel as strongly for her, as she does for him. It’s easier to say what she needs to say this way, where she can feel the soft, strong beat of his heart against her cheek, soothing her. ‘Hey.’ His arms tighten around her. ‘Liza, what’s wrong?’ She takes a deep steadying breath. ‘Nothing is wrong, exactly. I guess I’m just feeling a little unsure about things.’ She feels him go rigid beneath her. ‘Things? Do you mean us?’ He says, voice sounding hurt. She shifts uneasily. She hates that she’s made him sound that way, but this conversation needs to be had. 

‘Kind of, yes’ she says slowly. He shifts completely then, sitting up, and bringing her with him, forcing her to look at him. She wraps the sheet around herself protectively, and looks at him. What she sees in his face makes her feel awful. He looks confused and hurt. ‘I thought..’ he trails off, uncertainty. ‘I thought things were good with us now.. do you not.. do you not want-‘ she cuts him off before he can finish. ‘No! Charles, no. I do. I do want this, want you. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you think I didn’t’ She says, grabbing his hand, and bringing it up to her chest, to hold it against her heart. He smiles, relief all over his face, but then frowns slightly. ‘Okay. Okay, that’s good. Then what are you feeling unsure about?’ He says, squeezing her hand. She drops her gaze, and moves their clasped hands down to her lap, playing with his long, elegant fingers.

She is silent for awhile, trying to figure out how to say what she needs to say. He lets it linger, but finally seems to lose patience. ‘Liza, please. You are scaring me a little here’ he says, lifting her chin up to meet his concerned gaze. She takes a deep and steadying breath. ‘What do you want from me? From us? What is this, that we are doing here? Because now we don’t have to sneak around anymore, I need a little clarity. Do you want to be in a relationship with me?’ She says, in a rush, anxiety thrumming through her veins. He looks startled, which is fair, she supposes. She just dumped a lot of questions on him. ‘I thought we WERE in a relationship’ he says, sounding a little bemused. She looks into his eyes. ‘We’ve never really talked about it. I’m sorry, for just blurting it all out like that, I just, I guess it’s been bothering me and I know how I feel-‘ this time, it’s him who cuts her off. He looks at her, his gaze intense. ‘How do you feel?’ He says, softly.

She looks at his beautiful blue eyes, the eyes she fell in love with first, before anything else, and takes a leap, hoping he’ll be there to catch her on the other side. ‘I love you. I’m in love with you. I want to be with you, really be with you. Go on dates, meet your friends, eventually spend time with your girls and have you spend time with my dau-‘ he kisses her then, hard and possessive. She kisses him back, helplessly. He pulls back, resting his forehead against hers. ‘I want all of that too, everything you just said. I’ve wanted that for a long time’ he breathes. She smiles a little dopily. ‘Yeah?’ She whispers, her hands running over the warm skin of his bare back. ‘Yeah. Yes. Liza, you have to know, I really though it was completely obvious..’ he wraps his arms all the way around her, pulling her into his lap, legs around his waist, arms around his neck. 

He looks into her eyes, and oh. She sees it shining out at her. He smiles at her, and kisses her soft and sweet. ‘I’m in love with you too. I’ve been in love with you for.. much longer than I’d be willing to admit. This, what we have here is, below my girls, the most precious thing in my life. I’m sorry I haven’t told you, I really thought you knew. I didn’t think I was doing a very good job at hiding it, or really even trying to hide it at all’ He tilts his head slightly, to kiss a tear she hadn’t even noticed fall, off her cheek. 

She lets out a shaky laugh. ‘I’d hoped, but I wasn’t sure. Sometimes you just have to hear the words, you know?’ He smiles at her, eyes fond, and full of what she now knows is love. It’s a look he’s had in his eyes when they fall upon her, for a long time. She smiles happily, back at him. ‘I know now, I’ll be sure to tell you how much I love you more often. Soon, you’ll be sick of hearing me say it’ he says, teasingly. She kisses his forehead, his nose, his cheeks and finally his mouth. ‘That is not possible. I’ll never get sick of you saying that to me.’ She kisses him again, deeper this time, trying to pour everything she feels for him into it. He kisses her back, pulling her body even closer. ‘I feel like I’ve waited my whole life for you, Liza. I’ve never felt this way about anybody else. You walked into my life, and changed everything for me, and I’ll never be the same. I would never want to be’ She feels another tear slip down her cheek. 

‘I feel the same. I’ve been in love before, but not like this. It’s different with you, everything is different with you. You make me so happy. I’m just so glad we made it here.’ She cups his face in her hands. ‘I’m so lucky to have you, so lucky you forgave me.’ She whispers. He shakes his head. ‘Being angry at you was a defense I clung to, that hid the way I was really feeling. How hurt I was, that I had to find out the way I did. That you didn’t tell me. It was exhausting. I was so, so angry, but I hated the way that me feeling that way, hurt you.’ he says, dropping his gaze from hers, a slightly bitter twist to his mouth. 

She tilts her head down, to get him to meet her eyes. ‘And that’s why I love you so much. Hey, look at me. I’m so sorry I hurt you, I never, ever wanted to do that. I’m sorry you had to find out that way, from that horrible old man, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you myself. I wanted to, so badly. Especially once I realised how I felt for you. I did try, you know. A few times.’ She shrugs, helplessly. ‘I just never.. it never..’ She trails off. He runs his hands down her arms, soothingly. ‘It’s okay. Really, it is. I forgave you a long time ago. Let’s let the past, stay in the past, where it belongs. I’m more interested in the future.’ He says, a slow, sexy smile blooming on his beautiful mouth. 

She laughs softly. ‘Oh, yeah? Got big plans?’ She says, feeling heat pool low in her belly. He chuckles, low and warm. ‘So many. All including you. But right now..’ he flips them, suddenly, so she’s below him with him covering her body with his own, head to toe. She lets out a startled, delighted laugh. ‘Right now, I’m going to get started on showing you how much I love you, I’ve got a lot of time to make up for’ he whispers, kissing a hot trail down her neck. She sighs happily, losing herself in him, in them. The future is still uncertain, but she’s okay with that now. As long as she’s got him beside her, she knows it will be bright.


End file.
